I had the pleasure to travel with a good friend of mine, who for one reason or another finds his way to luxury… I just follow. But during this (and previous) trips I had the chance to stay in some quite special places – unaffordable in Belgium, but quite accessible here (even for a self-employed copywriter who just finished his last contract) – Pics below. Continue reading →

What does one do when one is in Phuket. Well, some would go to all the girly or boy bars. Well, we didn’t. We went on another kind of tour, which is just as much advertised on the corner of each street: a boat trip to Phi Phi Island (Ko Phi Phi).

Already when arriving at Phuket airport, the tourist hunters try to trick you in all kind of different ways into tours, packages, accommodation, services and what not (yep, probably also those). Continue reading →

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Phuket… I suppose you can see it as a huge playground. There are bars and restaurants at every corner of the street and in between there’s a tourist shop or travel agency at every second step. And in certain areas of town, the lights grow dim, the clothes become scarce and the men older and fatter. Whatever it is, it certainly isn’t Thailand.

So what is it that draws dozens of millions of tourists to Phuket every year – both international but also local? Continue reading →

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Another one on the list of surreal temples – one dedicated to Fertility: the Mae TupTim shrine. And fertility for the Thais seems to be a quite ‘male affair’ as you will see on the pictures… The shrine is well hidden behind the parking lot of the Nai Lert Park hotel, a 15 minute walk from the nearest Skytrain station, but quite interesting. Well, let’s say, it depends on your ‘interests’ – hehe.

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Oh my Buddha – all this travelling has quite some effect on me – when Bangkok starts becoming ‘usual’ or even a ‘homey feeling’. I speak the basic tourist survival Thai – know the best dishes to comfort my palate – have found the corners of the concrete jungle that are soothing – able to use the public transport eyes closed – no more need to visit the tourist traps, because been there, done that – a few good places to stay, from nice to luxury – and most of all: indulge in shopping: Thai and cheap. (pics below)

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One of the must-sees on my trip and the reason for hopping over the not so common Thai-Khmer border crossing, was the Preah Vihaer temple. It is not only declared UNESCO world heritage (since 2008) but it is also the subject of vigorous quibbles between two oh-so peaceful countries. So if even two zen countries fight a war over it, it must be amazing (pics below).

So I asked well around before setting off to this well hidden temple at the Thai border. The holy guidebook told me that the trip involved having dollars ready to ‘support’ the Cambodian soldiers (so that they let you through). My guesthouse girl (who looked very much like a boy though) told me that there were shared taxis from the one and only Anlong Veng roundabout going to the road crossing at the foot of the hill/mountain. From there I would need to take a motorbike up the steep slopes (because no common vehicles would manage). Continue reading →

The guidebook said it was possible, the Internet that knows it all too. So I decided to try the most remote border crossing from Si Saket (TH) into Anlong Veng (KH). A little adventure, especially as I started off in the wrong direction. Actually, I didn’t have a clue which direction but still pointed the motorbike taxi in the wrong direction. Wrong wrong wrong…

How to get sunburn for double the price?

Get a (completely undetailed) map of the area in Thai language (the only map I could find in Si Saket) Continue reading →